The present invention relates to a rotary parlour for milking of animals, wherein the parlour comprises a rotary platform unit having an upper surface adapted to support animals to be milked on the platform unit and at least one storing device connected to the platform unit and adapted to hold a number of teat cups in predetermined parking positions.
In a conventional rotary milking parlour, the cows walk on to an annular rotating platform and enter a milking stall via a gate arranged at a relatively narrow opening to the milking stall. When a cow has been positioned in a milking position in the milking stall, an operator or a milking robot grips teat cups in a storing device and attaches them to the teats of the cow. The teat cup storing device is usually mounted radially outside the platform in vicinity of the opening to a milking stall. It is easy for an operator or a milking robot to fetch the teat cups from a storing device in this position and attach them to the teats of a cow. The platform rotates continuously with a constant low speed. The milking operation of the cows is finished when the cows have been rotated nearly 360 degrees on the platform. A removing device removes the teat cups from the cows as soon as the milking operation has been finished. Rotary parlours have a high milking capacity due to the continuous flow of cows to the milking stalls.
A problem with the teat cup storing devices is that they may be in the way of the cows especially when they enter the platform and when they leave the platform. A cow is heavy and there is a risk that the storing devices and the teat cups will be deformed by a cow walking into the storing device or the teat cups when it enters or leaves the milking stall. There is also a risk that the cow gets injured.
US 2004/0050331 shows a rotary parlour for milking of animals. The parlour comprises a rotary platform having a plurality of milking stalls. The parlour comprises an entrance area from which the cows enter the platform and an exit area which the cows enter when they leave the platform. A milking unit comprising a claw and four teat cups is, via a detacher chain, connected to a retracting mechanism in each milking stall. A pivoting arm is adapted to guide the detacher chain and the milking unit between a milking position and a storage position. The pivoting arm is pivotally attached to a post in each milking stall. In the storage position, the pivoting arm is turned to a position in which it and the detacher chain do not block the opening to the milking stall. Furthermore, in the storing position, the detacher chain is drawn out such that it holds the milking unit at a level below the platform.
However, the milking unit hangs in the detacher chain and the teat cups are attached to the claw by flexible milking conduits. Thus, the teat cups are not parked in well defined positions in a storing device such that they can be gripped by a robot arm. Therefore, this construction is only applicable when an operator manually attaches the teat cups to the teats of a cow. In the storing position, the milking unit hangs in the detacher chain in a level below the level of the platform. Consequently, when the milking unit moves past the entrance area and the exit area, the detacher chain has to extend through a gap between the platform and the entrance area and the exit area. It is not without risk to have a chain hanging in this relatively narrow gap due to the relative motion between the platform and the entrance area and the exit area.